Judge denies claim of ineffective counsel

A Jefferson City man convicted and sentenced to death for a 2009 murder has been denied his effort for post-conviction relief.

Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce made her ruling Thursday in David Hosier's civil case. He is being held on Missouri's death row at the Potosi Correctional Center.

In 2015, the state Supreme Court upheld Hosier's conviction and death sentence for the Sept. 28, 2009, murder of Angela Gilpin, 45, as she was leaving her West High Street apartment at about 3:15 a.m., heading for her job as day manager of a Wardsville convenience store.

Her estranged husband, Rodney Gilpin, 61, was killed at the same time, but the 2013 Cole County trial only involved the charge in Angela's death.

A jury from St. Charles County spent about an hour deciding to convict Hosier of the killing and then - after the separate penalty phase evidence was presented - spent about three hours determining the death sentence was the appropriate punishment, and Joyce later imposed that sentence.

In his civil case filed in 2015, Hosier argued his legal counsel during the murder trial - public defenders Don Catlett and Janice Zembles - failed to adequately investigate and interview witnesses on his behalf, and failed to present evidence challenging the prosecution's claims against him. Hosier also said his defense failed to present evidence that he had a mental defect at the time of the crime.

Joyce found Hosier's lawyers had represented him adequately throughout his trial and Hosier had told his defense team that he did not want a mental defect defense presented to the jury.

Hosier was arrested in Oklahoma several hours after the murders occurred following a chase with Oklahoma authorities.

This was after Jefferson City police issued an alert to law officers in several surrounding states to look out for Hosier and his car, because he had "been identified as the primary suspect in the homicide investigation."

Police were able to track Hosier after obtaining a warrant asking AT&T to "ping" the cell phone, a technology which tracks a specific phone's location by the towers it connects with whenever making or receiving a call.

Hosier and Angela Gilpin had what was described as an "on-again, off-again" relationship after Angela had separated from Rodney Gilpin.

However, during the Cole County trial, Prosecutor Mark Richardson argued Hosier killed the Gilpins because he was angry Angela was ending her relationship with Hosier and working with Rodney to reconcile their 21-year marriage.

Although Hosier has not been tried or convicted of Rodney's murder, his death was an "aggravating circumstance" Richardson used to argue for a death sentence in Angela's murder - and the Supreme Court upheld that in its 2015 decision.